In my last post, I discussed the pervasive myth that certain materials are beyond recycling, noting that the only limitations to recycling something are economic in scope; if the recycling process costs more than its output, we consider it garbage. While that’s a sad fact to contend with, there are some surprising ways that some costs and environmental burdens can be reduced to make packaging more recyclable. One of the easier and more common methods is reducing the amount of packaging used altogether, using lighter designs that require less material to produce. Target has felt the pressure, reducing its own packaging by removing plastic lids from Archer Farms yogurts and opting for rubber bands instead of plastic bags to hold pairs of socks.